I Am Not a Hero

The serpent shadow let out a roar.

In mid-air, it poured all of its black sludge into the tilting skyscraper. The nearly liquid black substance seeped into every corner, determined to drown, crush, and devour Lin within.

Its intelligence was not low; it could even devise traps using human companions and their shouts to lure other humans.

It thought that humans, these fragile creatures whose attacks were like scratching an itch through boots, would shatter into a pool of blood with even the slightest touch once caught.

So, it carpet-bombed the skyscraper, the humans' only refuge, and then...

Detonated.

"Boom!"

The skyscraper, now only 150 meters tall, exploded from the inside, collapsing completely. Countless spiky fluid-like projectiles burst from within, piercing steel bars, rubble, and desks into shreds. Mortals and human corpses alike melted into the black sludge.

But...

Nothing.

The massive creature that landed on the ground crushed the earth. It locked onto all the splashed debris with its serpent eyes, but the human was nowhere to be seen.

Was he swallowed directly by the black sludge, or...?

Its beastly senses detected something. It raised its head and saw the person hovering under the dark clouds, drawing a blade of azure.

"Rumble."

Thunder brewed in the storm clouds, illuminating half of his helmet.

The visor, stained crimson by blood, stared like a demon at the Honkai Beast on the ground.

"Screeeech."

The blade pierced the darkness, like an azure crescent moon, slashing down from the sky towards the ground.

"Roar!"

Madness consumed the serpent's eyes. Black fluid oozing from its body churned beneath its massive form, morphing into a serpent's head even larger than itself. It opened its colossal maw and bit towards the falling figure.

There was no escape.

The scent of death washed over him.

Lin gazed at the serpent's maw, capable of swallowing dozens of him whole.

But there was no need to dodge.

"Crack—"

The last grenade was thrown from his left hand, hidden behind his back. Simultaneously, he fired a grappling hook towards the direction of the impending explosion.

"Bang!"

A momentary void, enough to decide the victor.

The serpent's head, formed from black sludge, exploded violently at the back. A slender grappling hook directly latched onto the serpent shadow's layered scales, pulling Lin, who had broken through the black sludge, towards the bewildered Honkai Beast's colossal, serpent-like head.

A falling star.

"Screeeech!"

The High-frequency Cutting Blade sliced into the Honkai Beast's outer shell without hesitation. Lin, using the remaining momentum and the pull of the grappling rope, gritted his teeth and pushed this critical strike to its absolute limit.

"Screeeech——————————"

From head to abdomen, an azure light cut a foul-smelling rift through the abominable monster.

"Awoooo—"

This time, the Honkai Beast let out a scream of agony.

Its front was almost split in half by Lin's blade. Its soft, serpentine muscle structure caused its body to collapse, and black fluid flowed endlessly from the wound like blood.

But it wasn't enough. Unless the core of an Upper-class Honkai Beast was destroyed, it would never die. This was their most terrifying regenerative ability as pure Honkai Energy beings.

Lin crashed heavily onto the ground, spitting a mouthful of blood, half green and half red, onto the screen. He didn't have time to catch his breath. He rolled over, hearing the sound of his own bones and joints popping, picked up the High-frequency Cutting Blade from the ground, and leaped into the Honkai Beast's rift, plunging inside and slashing with his blade.

Blood, fluid, rain—what was falling on his body? What was corroding his armor, making that sizzling sound? He couldn't tell anymore.

He just frantically slashed at anything he could, at anything that might be the core.

"Howl—howl—"

The Honkai Beast wailed. Countless spears made of black sludge stabbed towards the human rampaging inside its body. It used all its strength, wanting to kill him, to stop him.

Its abdomen was pierced, the flesh on the side of its neck was cut open, and its legs were riddled with dense, bloody holes...

"Howl!"

Human and Honkai Beast, both driven mad to kill each other. At this moment, the disparity in power was gone. All that remained was pure savagery and killing intent.

Lin swung relentlessly, until the surrounding muscle tissue twitched and ceased to respond. As the wails weakened, he finally stopped his slashing arm and knelt before the core, which had been reduced to dregs.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

He couldn't feel pain, but his human body's instincts still made him cough.

Lin grabbed the surrounding flesh and blood as handholds and walked out of the wide opening he had cut.

"Hoo... hoo... hoo..."

Lin turned his head to look at the snake shadow behind him, which was completely silent. He slowly knelt on the ground, sitting in the small pool formed by the convergence of blood and rain.

His facial features were bleeding, but he couldn't see it himself. The injuries on his body were enough to make him a broken rag doll at a second-hand market, yet he still couldn't feel any pain. Only his gradually cooling body temperature made him realize he had reached his limit.

[Connecting communication...]

Lin numbly attempted to connect to communications. He stood up again and walked in the direction of retreat.

"Splash..."

The sound of rain grew louder.

"Thump."

A sound of something beating.

"..."

Lin's body froze in place.

He instantly turned his head back.

What greeted his eyes was the twitching "corpse" of the Honkai Beast.

Not dead?

He had clearly pulverized its core.

Not just one... core...

Lin thought of the Honkai Energy reaction that far surpassed that of a normal Emperor-class Honkai Beast, and the expression under his helmet turned ferocious.

He immediately bolted towards the wound that hadn't even begun to heal.

"Boom!"

Just then, a bolt of lightning descended from the sky, engulfing him.

Thunderclouds had gathered overhead at some point, and a pair of purple-blue eyes looked down mercilessly on everything below.

Chapter 11: Humans and Disaster

"Emperor-class Honkai Beast's Honkai Energy reaction is decreasing! Dropping below the threshold! Excellent! Squad Five has successfully vanquished the Emperor-class Honkai Beast!"

The personnel in the temporary operations department were bustling about, transferring and submitting various documents, reports, combat plans, and supply requisitions to headquarters. The command center was in a frenzy, planning new combat strategies. Thus far, the Third Honkai War had presented too many variables, and they still couldn't come up with an effective operational plan.

Located on the outskirts of Changkong City, they couldn't contact most of the combat squads within the city. Their monitoring equipment could only detect high Honkai reactions and couldn't pinpoint the Herrscher's exact location, forcing them to send only the squads that could barely receive signals to those areas.

This feeling was like being blindfolded, having earplugs shoved in, and being beaten inside a sack, completely unable to fight back.

The Honkai was constantly growing stronger, and it was far from over. This was the feeling the Third Honkai War gave them.

Just then, a loud cheer broke the solemn and busy atmosphere. The monitoring officer excitedly slapped the table with both hands, creating a loud bang.

"Monitor Skal! This is a combat operation! What are you shouting about!" The head of the command center, already agitated, also slammed the table and stood up. He glared at the oblivious monitor and roared in a deep voice.

"Uh..." The monitor stared blankly at him, then chuckled, rubbing the back of his head happily. "Oh, I was saying, the Emperor-class Honkai Beast has been vanquished."

"What's so special about one Honkai Beast being vanquished... Wait, what did you say?" The head of the command center's impatient hand stopped abruptly in mid-air. He thought he had misheard and asked in disbelief.

All eyes turned to the monitor. They all stared at him, equally incredulous.

The Emperor-class Honkai Beast's reaction was confirmed half an hour ago, and it was vanquished in such a short time?

Seeing so many people staring at him, the monitor realized his behavior was out of line. He quickly stood up, saluted crisply, and said seriously, "The Third Herrscher's accompanying Upper-class Honkai Beast. Its Honkai Energy reaction dropped below the threshold thirteen seconds ago. It can be confirmed as deceased."

"Vanquished? By whom?"

"Squad Five!"

The head of the command center searched his memory for Squad Five's members and his furrowed brow relaxed. "Squad Five... Himiko's squad? Headquarters assigned them a search and rescue mission, and they ended up vanquishing an Emperor-class Honkai Beast on the side."

"Search and rescue mission? Aren't they a specialized support team?"

The monitor's joyful smile suddenly vanished. He asked in confusion.

"Bang!"

The door to the temporary operations department was kicked open heavily. A figure in deep red emerged from the curtain of rain, gently placing the black-haired girl on his back onto the ground.

The white-haired youth and the girl with streaks of color in her hair followed closely behind. Rainwater was constantly streaming off them, soon forming a puddle at their feet.

The icy cold of the torrential rain pouring in through the door made everyone shiver involuntarily.

Before anyone could react, the figure in deep red rushed forward in three quick steps to Monitor Skal, grabbed his shoulders, and stared at him with a rough gaze. "Was it you who said the Emperor-class Honkai Beast was vanquished?"

"You, who are you?"

"Speak quickly!"

"Yes! The Emperor-class Honkai Beast was... Huh? This voice... Aren't you Himiko, the captain of Squad Five?"

After confirming she hadn't misheard, Himiko's expression relaxed. She clutched her head and let out a sigh of relief.

Hun, who was supporting Mei, closed her eyes and murmured contentedly, "That's great... that's great..."

"That scoundrel Lin, I told him to hold the line, and he actually vanquished the Honkai Beast. He's got some skill after all," Himiko muttered to herself, then wiped the rain from her chin, revealing a relieved smile. "Hun, let's go. We'll go pick him up."

The commander of the headquarters clearly hadn't grasped the situation yet. He called out to Himiko, who was about to leave as soon as she entered: "Captain Himiko, please wait a moment. Weren't you fighting an Emperor-class Honkai Beast?"

Himiko stopped, thought for a moment, then shook her head. "No, our primary mission was to rescue Ms. Mei. We've escorted our target here safely, so I'll ask you to take responsibility for her protection."

"Then who defeated the Emperor-class Honkai Beast?"

"That was my team member, Lin." Himiko took a deep breath. She couldn't wait any longer. Lin must have been injured after fighting the Honkai Beast. The most urgent matter was to bring him back.

"Lin? You mean that guy who got close to the head of the R&D department and used excess equipment that no one else could use?" The commander of the headquarters frowned, his impression of this name, which had been making waves for the past few months, quite strong. "It seems Delta gave him some advanced equipment again this time. Hmph. Instead of equipping other soldiers with advanced gear, they give it to this kid who only knows how to climb the social ladder. That's why I've always opposed Delta becoming the head of the R&D department. If other soldiers had the same new equipment as him, how could they be struggling so much..."

Lin, a young man who had only joined MOTH for less than half a year, had achieved more brilliant results than most of the veteran soldiers. How could an ordinary person who had never been to the battlefield accomplish all this?

This solo hunt against an Emperor-class Honkai Beast proved that Lin's equipment was definitely more advanced than that of other soldiers. After the battle, he would definitely confront Lin and Delta to question why advanced equipment wasn't being deployed for mass distribution.

"What do you mean by that?" Himiko's eyes suddenly turned cold. She lowered the hand that was holding her salute, and her left foot subtly moved forward a small step – the prelude to an attack she made subconsciously.

At this juncture, to have a commander questioning his subordinates and comrades, speaking words that could disrupt morale.

Even Soul lowered his gaze and looked at the commander of the headquarters.

The commander of the headquarters glared back, unwilling to back down. "What I mean is..."

"Please put an end to this useless argument." A clear, cold female voice interrupted the impending argument.

Mei was seen coldly wringing water from her wet hair and casually tossing it behind her head. She pushed up her fogged glasses, her eyes, which were always calm and devoid of emotion, swept across everyone present.

Her attire was just student wear, but her gaze sent an involuntary shiver down everyone's spine.

"The operation is not over yet. Please give me the energy curve graph and high-concentration distribution map for Changkong City – it's called Honkai Energy, right? Also, give me your planned operation and the coordinates of the operation teams."

"Additionally, please adjust the indoor temperature and humidity to 22° and 49% respectively. Now, please..."

"Move."

Mei's self-talk was like a freezing ray that solidified a lake, and her subsequent gaze was like a heavy hammer shattering the ice, causing everyone to move in an orderly fashion again.

No one knew who she was, but the chilling absolute rationality in her words made no one dare to question her.